


ghosts in the endless night

by grains_of_saturn



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:20:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21626722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grains_of_saturn/pseuds/grains_of_saturn
Summary: Cor has known his ghosts a long time. Prompto, too, has faced ghosts - of a kind.
Relationships: Prompto Argentum/Cor Leonis
Comments: 1
Kudos: 22





	ghosts in the endless night

**Author's Note:**

> For the fandomweekly prompt "ghosts".

The long night had stretched out for long enough - just - that Prompto felt himself able to get something like a reasonable period of sleep. It couldn't be as it had been before, of course - stretching, yawning, emerging into the soft light of morning - but extended periods of time spent out hunting daemons and protecting the few populated areas remaining on the continent brought, if nothing else, exhaustion enough to sleep (at least for a time).

As such, Prompto would wake in Cor's bed to find himself the only occupant; this didn't surprise him, but he never knew quite how to react to it. He was still coming to terms with the fact that he was _sharing a bed with Cor_ to begin with, wondering whether it was a result of his own increased confidence or some element of Cor's own moral standing that didn't care to resist anymore - a question that Prompto wasn't sure how to put into words, let alone ask out loud. Instead, they fell into something like routine, something like companionship, something like comfort. And Prompto was no stranger to Cor's restless sleeping habits; he knew better than to question it and didn't yet dare chide him for it, but still, Prompto wrapped himself up in the blanket and stepped quietly over to the open door, where Cor stood leant over the balcony.

"... Didn't know we were taking it in turns this time. What time were you gonna let me take over guard duty?"

Cor sighed deeply. "... Prompto. Don't worry about it. It's--... just the usual."

"Yeah, and it's just the _usual_ patrol out tomorrow, as well." He faltered, wondering if his words were out of place, mild as they were. "I know I asked about keeping the light on, but, uh... you don't gotta--... if it's that keeping you up, it doesn't need to be on. I can deal. We're still in the safest place, right?"

"It's not that."

"I'm just saying. If you thought it might help, or something."

"Hm." Turning his back on the floodlit Lestallum, Cor tipped his head back and closed his eyes. "Light's good for keeping the daemons out. Other things... doesn't matter if it's light or dark, still keeps you up at night." He opened his eyes. "... You know what I mean."

"R-right."

"Decade-old conversations... things you did or didn't do... ghosts of the past don't differentiate." Cor gave a bitter laugh. "Or perhaps it's easier to end up haunted when it's so dark all the time. That doesn't help."

Again, Prompto didn't really know what to say. Was this indicating that Cor wanted to talk about the past? Elaborate on whatever it was that was keeping him awake? Even those oblique inferences were more than Prompto was used to hearing from him. At the same time, he didn't want to push too far or to agitate old wounds, didn't want to _be an irritation_.

Tugging the edges of the blanket around to cover his chest, Prompto leant forward against the balcony railing, offering a smile. "I saw a ghost once."

Whatever response Cor had been expecting, clearly, that was not it. He regarded Prompto with a lightly confused expression. "Oh?"

"Yeah. It was in Altissia."

"Sure it wasn't just one of the residents? They're a fan of their fashions out there. ...I don't really understand it, myself."

"No, no. You can ask the others, it was a hunt we got sent on - this monster, like, this _ghost_ thing, in a painting. Hey, I've probably still got a picture of it on here--" Padding back into the main room, Prompto retrieved his camera and quickly started thumbing through preview images as he rejoined Cor on the balcony. He seemed to have to go back quite a way, but after a time, found the misty-looking image he'd been thinking of. "Here. The painting got possessed, or... something? I don't know. I don't really get it, but I guess it doesn't really matter if you get it or not when it's trying to kill you, huh. ...We won, by the way. If it wasn't obvious."

The display was small, but nonetheless, the ethereal form of an incorporeal woman was evident. Leaning close to view the image, Cor raised an eyebrow and then nodded. "There's more out there than we know to know about, that's for sure. 'Ghosts'... I suppose a lot of things could fall under that category. I suppose we should think ourselves lucky there aren't any possessed paintings around here. ...That we know of." He gently knocked at Prompto with one elbow. "Perhaps you should ask about, just to be sure. Since you've already taken care of that kind of thing in the past, after all. I'll defer to your superior judgment in this area."

Prompto wasn't sure if that was praise or not, but laughed all the same. "Kinda hope that if there _was_ anything like that around here we'd have found it already, but... sure! Any more ghosts show up, I'm on the case." He hesitated for a moment. "That includes your kind of ghosts, too. I--... probably can't do anything about those, but..."

"I appreciate the sentiment, all the same. If not light to cast them out, then perhaps a little levity. I... was never good at that."

"Yeah, well, that's what I'm here for--!" Prompto stopped himself before voicing the second half of his thought, _that's all I'm good at, anyway...!_ Was it too self-deprecating to say that? Was it too arrogant to leave the statement as-was? Prompto knew that, even in considering it, he'd left the silence for too long, and that all he could do was to leave it. Cor gave a small smile, as if agreeing - or, at the very least, not disagreeing - and Prompto felt that he could live with that.


End file.
